"Music Director David Leibowitz...is not only an excellent conductor, but also an inspiring leader."
-- New York Concert Review, October 2010

The American Prize, 2011
Award-winner: Orchestral Conducting (3rd place); Orchestral Programming (2nd place)

Celebrated for his innovative programming and exciting performances, conductor David Leibowitz has achieved international acclaim for his work on the concert, opera, and ballet stage.

Mr. Leibowitz is the Music Director/Conductor and founder of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra. Some recent highlights of his tenure there have been a fully staged production of Mozart´s Abduction from the Seraglio and a landmark performance of Mahler´s epic Symphony No. 3. As an avid fan and champion of the music of our own time, he has commissioned, worked with, and performed local and world premieres by some of today´s most important composers; such as Eduard Tubin, Harold Farberman, Paul Moravec, Stephen Dembski, John Schwabe, Salvador Brotons, William Dickerson, Steven Rosenhaus, and Terry Pender.

Recently appointed as Orchestra Director at the City College of New York, Mr. Leibowitz also holds the post of Principal Conductor with the Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra (NY). He is also currently on the staff of the International Opera Institute at the Maud Powell Music Festival (IL) and, from 2002-2007, was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet, and concert performances. Recent operatic highlights include performances of Mozart´s Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, and Le nozze di Figaro, Donizetti´s L´Elisir d´amore, Bizet´s Carmen, and Humperdinck´s Hänsel und Gretel, all to critical acclaim. In addition, in 2009 Mr. Leibowitz was named Orchestra Director of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music festival.

Throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe he has directed such ensembles as the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra (NY), Pleven Philharmonic (Bulgaria), the Orchester Pro Arte (Vienna), the Masterplayers Orchestra (Switzerland), the Orquestra Sinfonico de la Ciudad de Mexico, the Bach Festival Orchestra (Princeton, NJ), and the Brooklyn Opera and Dance Theater. Critics hailed his performances with the Pleven Philharmonic as "passionate and exciting."

In the New York City area, he has also conducted the Astoria Symphony, Greenwich Village Orchestra, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony Orchestra, Sound Symphony Orchestra, and Music at St. Paul´s (Columbia University). He has been invited back to those ensembles and venues repeatedly.

A dedicated music educator, Mr. Leibowitz conducted the Third Street Philharmonia at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City from 2003-2005. He has worked as a conductor and coach with many other student and youth orchestras, including the Maud Powell Music Festival, the orchestras of Brooklyn College, the InterSchools Orchestra of New York, and the Gemini Youth Orchestra.

Mr. Leibowitz received his Master of Arts degree in Performance Practice, Summa Cum Laude, from the City University of New York´s Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. His main studies were in performance, musicology, and composition. He was awarded a teaching fellowship and was named a Presidential Scholar of the University. He has continued his conducting studies with, among others, Herbert Blomstedt, Carlo Maria Giulini, and Jacques-Louis Monod. Mr. Leibowitz was a finalist in the International Masterplayers´ Conducting Competition in Lugano, Switzerland in 1986.

David Leibowitz was recently given the "Gift to the City" award from the Omega Ensemble of New York for his ongoing contributions to the musical life of New York City and is on the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild, an international service organization of over 2,000 members, devoted to the advancement of the art of conducting and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors.